We all have that one friend who likes to talk about hypothetical situations while the gang is hanging around, and inevitably they bring up the "What 5 things do you take with you if you were gonna be stranded on a deserted island?". My group, being generally nerdier than most but probably similar to yours if you are reading this, decided to discuss the 5 video games you'd bring if you were stuck and, with it being an interesting thought experiment, I thought I'd share my answers with you.

Our criteria for the rules of this magic island was as follows:

- There is no Internet; so no online multiplayer.- You have all the electricity / systems / peripherals you need...go ahead and bring Steel Battalion- No compilations; No "Arcades Greatest Hits"/ Bootleg Multicarts. Action 52 would be okay, since the games appear nowhere else.

Now that we have that mess out of the way, here is what I came up with, in no particular order.

Dwarf Fortress

Let's start with one I'm sure you are not familiar with. Dwarf Fortress, in it's fortress mode, puts you in charge of the general development of a group of dwarves who have set out from the city to start a new home. You direct them in their building, mining, farming, and craftsmanship among other things. The interesting part about how it plays is that you only assign chores to the group...you don't actually have any control! This is further exacerbated by the fact that each dwarf has unique personalities, ambitions, levels of intelligence, social skills, and more. Add in the fact that there is a whole Rouge-like adventure mode, as well as a robust world generation system and you have a game that one person could never exhaust content wise.

I plan on doing a full write up on just this game in the future, the next time I get in the mood to relearn it. The depth of the game leads to some heavy controls, that don't really make scene unless you've been playing it for a while...hence why it would work great on a deserted island.

Sid Meyer's Civilization V

This entry will inevitably change to VI once I pick it up, but for now I'll stick to what I know. Sid Meyer's Civilization series has the perfect sort of flow for someone trapped on an island. With the ability to play at your own pace, you can have gaming sessions for as long or as little as you like, with varying scenario options, and plenty of customization. Random world generation also helps keep the game fresh every time you play. With the ability to lose days to the game already, anyone who didn't take a good 4x game like Civ would find themselves bored pretty fast.

Pinball FX2

In reality, I could probably take a handful of pinball machines to an island and be pretty ok, but why stop at a few? Pinball FX2 has a robust library of virtual pinball tables, with almost every one being unique and exciting to play. Each playfield is littered with eye candy and are packed with modes that make even a true pinball wizard sweat to achieve them. The major achievement here is the physics, which make the game feel quite good, especially in comparison to other virtual pinball attempts. Between the amount of content available and the polish poured into each table, I think Pinball FX2 would have me forgetting the sand beneath my feet in no time.

Dark Souls

Even without it's online play, Dark Souls is one of my favorite games, and I would play it for hours daily and not get bored. The variety of playstyles available, coupled with a high skill cap means that I'd be playing Dark Souls for ages before I exhausted everything. I prefer DS to it's sequels simply due to preference...it may actually be the weakest of the three on content. Even so, Dark Souls would have any unkindled soul busy until help eventually arrived...or didn't.

Kirby's Adventure

Alright, so this isn't actually a good choice for anyone else but me. Kirby's Adventure is my favorite game, and I typically 100% it at least once a year. It is cute, fun, and short enough to break up the monotony without overstaying it's welcome. If I were making this list for anyone else, Puyo Puyo Tetris would be in this spot, as my list lacks a puzzle game...but it's the list for if I got stuck, so Kirby cuts it out.

Well, that wraps up my choices. I'm quite certain that they wont match yours, so let me know what you would have picked in the comments!

Civ is a great choice for this. Just thinking about it off the cuff, here's what I think I'd take (mostly "endless" games):

1. A Galaga machine. Def my favorite retro game. I could literally play this game forever and not get tired of it.2. Diablo III. The scaling nature of the difficulty means there's no ceiling to this game. 3. SimCity 4. Base building has always been my favorite part of strategy games.4. Persona 4 (or 5). Maybe I can finally find the time to finish one of these lol.5. Rock Band 3. Between four instruments and all the DLC I already downloaded (before going to the island, of course. call it a loophole if you want lol), I can't think of a better way to spend the rest of my life on an island than rocking out.

Oh, man. Had to think about this one for a while, and I'm still not sure. Nice technicality, calling for no compilations UNLESS they are all original, then picking a compilation featuring Star Wars and Marvel themed pinball tables. You cheeky monkey! Anyhoo:

- Civ IV - I fell in love with that story of the "10 year Civ II game." No idea if you can do the same thing with Civ IV, but general consensus is that Civ IV may be the best of the lot. Not endless, but an experienced player could drag on campaigns for years.

- X3: The Albion Prelude - You can blow through the story in about thirty hours, but if you just play the game, slowly building up an empire of ships and space stations, and systematically destroying the two permanently hostile alien races, you could easily play this space sim for thousands of hours.

- Dragon Quest III (GBC remake) - Just a great game, superior to both the NES original and the graphical updates (SNES and mobile).

- Tales of Middle Earth (TOME2) - Middle Earth in ASCII? Yes please!

- Ultima VII: The Black Gate - I haven't played this yet, but what better way to experience it than on a deserted island, where one would be pretty much forced to love it, kind of like in the olden days.

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